POLITICALLY DIRECT

The danged fence vs. the danged record

Exclusive: Jane Chastain takes on McCain over ad meant to show him tough on illegals

Jane Chastain is a Southern California-based broadcaster, author and political commentator. Despite her present emphasis on politics, Jane always will be remembered as the nation's first female TV sportscaster, spending 17 years on the sports beat. Jane blogs at JaneChastain.com. She is a pilot who lives on a private runway.

He won the Republican nomination for president. He hasn’t had a primary challenger for his Senate seat in two decades. He’s 10 to 12 points ahead in most polls. He’s a fat-cat senator sitting on a pile of dough (his own and that of those who benefit from his votes). So, why is John McCain running scarred?

The defeats of five-term Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, three-term Sen. Robert Bennett in Utah and 14-term Rep. Alan Mollohan in their parties’ primaries.

Yes, average Americans are finally getting the message: To get good government, you have to be willing to oust incumbents who are just so-so or part of the Washington problem in the PRIMARY election. Give someone else a chance to do the job right!

To the uninitiated, it would appear that McCain is sitting pretty. With a double-digit lead and only three months until the Arizona primary, he should be able to coast to a fifth term – so why is he running scarred?

He is running from the truth, and the truth will catch up with him if his opponent, former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, is able to launch his million-dollar TV ad campaign. Hayworth is scratching and clawing for every nickel, but he is halfway there. My guess is that average Americans from all over the country (not just Arizona) will help push him over the top. When that happens, all bets are off.

To date, McCain has spent more than $2 million on slick radio and TV ads that are designed to fool the electorate. These ads have given him a bounce in the polls. However, the latest on border security is so over the top it has been the subject of late-night jokes and outright ridicule among those familiar with McCain’s record.

In the ad, McCain is seen walking along the incomplete border fence with Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu. McCain details some of the problems caused by the failure to defend our borders against the alien invasion.

McCain: “Drug and human smuggling, home invasions, murder …”

Babeu: “We’re out-manned. Of all the illegals in America, more than half come through Arizona.”

Babeu tells McCain that his most recent (I’ve really seen the light; please believe me) proposal is perfect: “You bring troops, state, county and local law enforcement together.”

McCain then adds, “And complete the danged fence!”

The ad has produced guffaws from those in the know for three reasons. McCain teamed with Ted Kennedy to craft a bill to give amnesty to those who broke into this country illegally. It had the backing of George W. Bush and would have passed had it not been for the large outcry from the public. Hayworth, McCain’s primary opponent, was one of the bill’s strongest opponents in the House of Representatives.

The second reason for the jeers and laughter is the language. McCain is well-known for his potty mouth. The “danged” fence doesn’t fit McCain’s vocabulary, and that is one of the reasons he appears to choke when delivering that line. The third reason he choked is that he doesn’t really believe it. See Hayworth’s new blog.

In 2007, when McCain was taking heat for his amnesty bill, a Vanity Fair writer caught him with his guard down before a friendly crowd: “I think the fence is least effective. But I’ll build the g–d—ed fence if they want it.”

A year later, in September 2008, on the eve of the presidential election, McCain told the Spanish-language station Univision that his plan did not include “walls and fences.”

Now he is trying to make us forget the past and, please note, he refused to take a stand on Arizona’s tough new immigration law until he was forced to do so by Hayworth.

Has McCain changed? Not in this lifetime! Arizona voters would do well to remember that he was the original sponsor of the infamous “cap-and-tax” bill, aka cap-and-trade, which was a sop to global-warming promoters who want to tax carbon emissions. If that doesn’t do it, remember that he was also one of the authors of the incumbent-protection bill better known as McCain-Feingold.

McCain is a true war hero, and for that he deserves your respect, but he doesn’t deserve your vote!

McCain first got my attention by railing against pork-barrel projects. Then, I discovered that he usually ends up voting for the bills that contain them. That burst my bubble.

Arizona voters, do us a big favor and send him the way of Bennett, Specter and Mollohan.